Cycling, facing an uphill climb, hopes next hero just around bend

By Steve Almasy, CNN

Updated 8:21 PM ET, Fri January 18, 2013

Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – After denying the allegations for years, cyclist Lance Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. As a result, he was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and an Olympic bronze medal. Click through the gallery for a look at his life and career.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong, 17, competes in the Jeep Triathlon Grand Prix in 1988. He became a professional triathlete at age 16 and joined the U.S. National Cycling Team two years later.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong wins the 18th stage of the Tour de France in 1995. He finished the race for the first time that year, ending in 36th place.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong rides at the Ikon Ride for the Roses to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation in May 1998. He established the foundation to benefit cancer research after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996. After treatment, he was declared cancer-free in February 1997.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong leads his teammates during the final stage of the 1999 Tour de France.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong takes his honor lap on the Champs-Élysées in Paris after winning the Tour de France for the first time in 1999.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – After winning the 2000 Tour de France, Armstrong holds his son Luke on his shoulders.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong rides during the 18th stage of the 2001 Tour de France. He won the tour that year for the third consecutive time.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong celebrates winning the 10th stage of the Tour de France in 2001.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – After winning the 2001 Tour de France, Armstrong presents President George W. Bush with a U.S. Postal Service yellow jersey and a replica of the bike he used to win the race.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong celebrates on the podium after winning the Tour de France by 61 seconds in 2003.

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – After his sixth consecutive Tour de France win, Armstrong attends a celebration in his honor in front of the Texas State Capitol in Austin.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong arrives at the 2005 American Music Awards in Los Angeles with then-fiancee Sheryl Crow. The couple never made it down the aisle, splitting up the following year.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong holds up a paper displaying the number seven at the start of the Tour de France in 2005. He went on to win his seventh consecutive Tour de France.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong testifies during a Senate hearing in 2008 on Capitol Hill. The hearing focused on finding a cure for cancer in the 21st century.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – In 2009, Armstrong suffered a broken collarbone after falling during a race in Spain.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Young Armstrong fans write messages on the ground ahead of the 2009 Tour de France. He came in third place that year.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong launches the three-day Livestrong Global Cancer Summit in 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. The event was organized by his foundation.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – In May 2010, Armstrong crashes during the Amgen Tour of California. That same day, he denied allegations of doping made by former teammate Floyd Landis.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong looks back as he rides during the 2010 Tour de France.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong's son Luke; his twin daughters, Isabelle and Grace; and his 1-year-old son, Max, stand outside the Radio Shack team bus on a rest day during the 2010 Tour de France.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong finished 23rd in the 2010 Tour de France. He announced his retirement from the world of professional cycling in February 2011. He said he wanted to devote more time to his family and the fight against cancer.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – The frame of Armstrong's bike is engraved with the names of his four children at the time and the Spanish word for five, "cinco." His fifth child, Olivia, was born in October 2010.

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Photos: Lance Armstrong's rise and fall28 photos

Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong competes in the 70.3 Ironman Triathlon in Panama City, Florida, in February 2012. He went on to claim two Half Ironman triathlon titles by June of that year.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – Armstrong addresses participants at the Livestrong Challenge Ride on October 21, 2012, days after he stepped down as chairman of his Livestrong cancer charity.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – International Cycling Union President Pat McQuaid announces the decision to strip Armstrong of his seven Tour de France wins and ban him from the tournament for life on October 22, 2012. "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling," he said.

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Lance Armstrong's rise and fall – In January 2013, Armstrong speaks with Oprah Winfrey about the controversy surrounding his cycling career. He admitted, unequivocally and for the first time, that he used performance-enhancing drugs while competing.

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Story highlights

Former pro racer says sport is cleaner than it was when dopers ruled

Scandal has turned a lot of people off to sport, cycling journalist says

Sponsors have left, too, but some say that's just business

Americans need a hero and one young rider is on everybody's mind

In July, when the riders of the Tour de France headed into Paris during the final stage of the race, they gave the honor of leading the pack onto the Champs-Elysees to George Hincapie.

The 39-year-old American was immensely respected by his peers and well-loved by cycling fans even though he never won the event. Never even came close.

He will best be remembered, not as a two-time stage winner in cycling's greatest event, but as Lance Armstrong's main sidekick, his "best bro."

While Armstrong rode for glory, Hincapie rode for the team.

Armstrong and Hincapie were teammates even before Armstrong won his first individual Tour titles, compatriots on a team that was struggling to compete with others.

Hincapie has said that it was 1996 when he first began to take banned drugs to improve his racing, something he said he would do for 10 years. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have been able to compete with the best cyclists, he said.

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Lance Armstrong: A champion at cheating?

The sport is much cleaner now, he said by phone this week from Greenville, South Carolina, as he transitions into the next phase of his cycling life.

"Generally speaking there isn't doping any more," Hincapie said. "I can't say without a doubt that no one is no doping, but the culture definitely has changed."

Armstrong, in an interview aired this week, told Oprah Winfrey he engaged in doping from the mid-1990s to 2005, the year of his last of seven Tour de France titles and when he began his first retirement.

The perception of doping in the sport has lingered, even though Hincapie and others have said they stopped doping and subsequently raced clean.

Cycling officials have taken steps to cut down on the number of drug cheats, Hincapie said.

Great damage has already been done.

"The credibility of the sport is at an all-time low," Chris Keyes, editor of Outside magazine said. "And it'd be a mistake to pin that all on Lance Armstrong."

"It's tragic for what (doping) has done to a great sport and it's going to be a long time before it recovers," Keyes said.

Some professional teams have seen sponsors leave -- something some in cycling see as fallout from the doping scandals but others see as a barometer of the world economy.

Richard Schwinn, co-founder of Waterford Precision Cycles, said sponsors often come and go, depending on the how well their businesses are doing.

It costs at least $5 million a year to run a top-flight team, he said, which might not be much for a big bank one year, but may be too much the next.

Keyes and Bicycling magazine editor Peter Flax say disappearing marketing money has more do with the fact that some sponsors don't want to be associated with a sport that has been so prominently linked to cheating.

Its effect reaches beyond the elite teams.

"Tour de France teams have had to cobble together new sponsors and get more sponsors," Flax said. "And there are fewer lower level pro teams. It's a sad moment in time that will take a while to rebuild from."

While Armstrong was king, U.S. TV ratings soared and dollars rolled in. After he retired, the numbers plunged.

Armstrong's fall makes it a lot less likely that cycling will ever reach the popularity on television it did when the Texan was astonishing the world with his comeback from cancer, Keyes said.

It isn't like cycling is totally going in reverse.

Among recreational cyclists, the sport is as popular as ever. About 39 million Americans ride at least six times a year, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.

"The bicycler retailer industry seems to be showing growth that equals population growth," said Schwinn, whose company makes upscale specialty bikes.

A lot of that comes because more cities have come to realize how much good bike facilities -- bike lanes and multi-use paths -- enhance life for residents, he said.

Still, just because more people are riding road bikes and commuting to work doesn't necessarily lead to a similar increase in fans, especially casual ones, watching cycling on TV.

It will probably take success of another American star.

When asked who might be the U.S. guy to watch in the Tour de France this year, each person interviewed pointed to Tejay van Garderen, a 24-year-old who was fifth in last year's race and won the event's best young rider award.

Cycling insiders say Tejay van Garderen, 24, may be the American to watch in this year's Tour de France.

Another rising U.S. cycling star is Taylor Phinney, who like van Garderen is a member of the BMC team.

He may not have the back story of Armstrong or the Texan's strong personality, but he's very likeable.

"Tejay is really low key," Flax said. "There's not a lot of strutting and ego coming out of him. He's someone people feel like they can believe in."

He and Taylor Phinney, another promising young rider, are members of the BMC team, which features 2011 Tour winner Cadel Evans. Flax thinks van Garderen has a chance to finish in the top three, even though he'll be supporting Evans' chances.

Hincapie, who puts on a series of spring races and owns a development team of young riders, believes the sport as a whole is in good shape.

"Cycling has gone through some drama for sure, but racing is as popular as ever," he said. "People still love racing their bikes."

And he said more people than ever were attending cycling events, at least as he sees the crowds.

Those people almost become addicted to a sport where the beauty of the course belies the intense demands on riders, Hincapie said.